There are several basic rank types. Head Game Master, Administrators, Game Masters, Roleplay Masters, Kingdom Rulers, and Officers/Soldiers.

Head Game Master: Currently Xiahou Mao, decided upon by the other game masters for his unwavering honesty and proven fair judgment. His decision in game rules is final, though it is reached by talking with other game masters if there is any doubt. He has administrative access to the forum. If you are plotting against an administrator’s officer, do it through him. If rules presented by a game master and him conflict, his word is final, but check back for changes (as we all make occasional mistakes).

Administrators: Currently Aureal, Elysia, and Xian Zhu Xuande, they can do everything. They can make forums, ban members, change ranks, and they can also view the planning halls. For the last reason, administrators are not allowed to play rulers. They are trusted with important game information and for this reason their actual role in the game is limited (though like everyone below, their personal judgment is sound and they will not cheat). In regards to forum authority, administrators are actually a lot alike game masters. We play the same role in the game, and though administrators and game masters have different levels of access to features in the forum, their say in game events are similar. They handle the highest level of plots, such as assassinations and coups.

Typically, each administrator has a specialized field in which they are nominally in charge of:

Game Masters: Currently Discordia, Gafgarion, Jia Gai, Lionheart, Patricoo, Sir Ebrum, The fearsome Hun, Xeniphon, and Zeren. Though they cannot make forums, ban users, edit profiles, or anything else of that nature, they still control elements of the storyline, and help keep the gears churning in the background. Game Masters cannot access every planning hall; they can access and monitor Planning Halls assigned to them and approved by the respective ruler. Like administrators, they cannot be kingdom rulers. In game decisions they have similar authority to the administrators, and even though they cannot personally ban members, the administrators will nearly always back up their judgment. Treat them with equal authority. They can handle higher level plots such as poisoning, lesser assassinations, and other large nefarious deeds. Game Masters are allowed to have their own character (PC) like any other player, but these characters are to be played with the same standards of an NPC. This is to prevent any conflicts of interest. When plotting against a Game Master's PC or NPC, send the plot to an administrator.

Roleplay Masters: Currently Dong Zhou, Fireshade, Jaerdean, JohannXIV, Justice, LDW, Marzy, and Zhou Tai. Roleplay Masters are also moderators of most game forums. Their role is similar to that of a Game Master, but more specialized. A Roleplay Master has no access to game formulae and no role in the mechanics of the game (wars, etc). Their purpose is purely to further the game storyline (although the most major GM NPCs will be played by Administrators), and to run quests and interact with players. They will run basic plots, but important ones will require a Game Master or Administrator, as Roleplay Masters do not have access to formulae. Treat them with equal authority to Game Masters in all Roleplay and Forum Rules matters. Roleplay Masters cannot become rulers under any circumstances. They are allowed to have PC's, but are under the same restrictions as GMs.

Kingdom Rulers: Kingdom Rulers do not have moderator or administrator rights. Simply put, they run a kingdom and control access to that kingdom’s planning hall. If you are one of their officers, consider them the authority in your kingdom. They have other rights that other players do not (like being able to execute their own officers). However, that does not mean that your character cannot execute a rebellion or a revolt against your own kingdom ruler.

Officers: These are the general ranks for all otherplayers. Nice and simple, though this has absolutely no impact on game play. Normal players have no special rights, and they are bound to all normal forum rules.

Special Ranks: Many people in this game have received special custom titles during their stay here. This is not a special privilege, however. Most of these were gained by an amusing comment, action, avatar, name, or other thing that caused an administrator to decide to laugh at them and give them a custom title. You cannot request a custom title, and you generally wouldn't want to anyway.

Plotting against Game Masters and Administrators You may, at some point, want to plot against a roleplay master, game master, or administrator's officer. The first thing you want to do is to check to make sure it is their officer, and not a GM NPC. If plotting against a GM NPC, you don't need to worry about biases, as they are controlled according to set guidelines regardless of what the player knows.

As for administrators and game masters, first understand that they wouldn’t have that position if there was any doubt regarding their honesty. They do not warp the rules to destroy players they do not like, for example. That said, if you want to make sure there is no chance of a problem, observe the following steps.

1) If plotting against a game master, contrary to their position you need not worry. They cannot access most planning halls, and the other game masters do not share plots with them in the moderator forum. As with any officer, handle plots against them through another game master (though if you still have doubts, go through an administrator.)

2) If plotting against an administrator's personal character, understand that they can read your planning hall (the forum software literally doesn’t allow us to take away that right). You need not worry about plots against other players, as they will never say a word, but if you do want to plot against one of their actual characters you may want to handle it through private messages and the head GM (currently Xiahou Mao).

3) If plotting against the Head Game Master, Xiahou Mao, or a major GM NPC of another Administrator, please feel free to send it to another administrator. Because administrators are perfectly capable of keeping OOC information away from other game play decisions, there is no need to be concerned about your plot being purposefully failed. For fairness, however, plots are generally handled by the least situationally involved administrator on the team.

That said, do not worry. As the game proceeds you will learn that the game masters and administrators are perfectly capable of keeping out-of-character information separate from game play information. If you have any questions regarding the information presented in this document, please post it in the rule questions thread.